‘Solidarity’ Rally Planned Sunday in Evanston

Open Communities’ note: The event was not planned in response to Trump’s rally. Our message said that the turnout was expected to be bigger than anticipated in the wake of that protest.

Anti-hate groups to meet at Fountain Square to show support for Muslims.

By Tim Moran

An array of inclusion groups will gather around Fountain Square in Evanston beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 20 to show solidarity with Muslims.

The Facebook event ‘Together We Stand: Chicagoland in Solidarity with Muslims’ has nearly 100 confirmed guests and is co-sponsored by a number of organizations such as the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, Rainbow PUSH, CAIR-Chicago and the Chicago Area Peace Action.

“Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim are enduring vitriolic, frightening levels of hate and violence throughout the country- being spit on, verbally harassed and abused, physically assaulted, and even shot,” according to the Facebook event.

The march was planned in response to the protests that arose from the Donald Trump Presidential rally last week in Chicago, according to a spokesperson for Open Communities, another organization taking part in Sunday’s event.

“Together we will publicly say: We stand against the many ways in which anti-Muslim and xenophobic hatred manifests itself, including hate speech and hate crimes; institutionalized racism and state-sanctioned violence; racial and religious profiling in all its forms; and prejudice that targets refugees and immigrants of all backgrounds.”